Sunny Skies
by Scytherea
Summary: It is really hard to fight Aphrodite's power. No matter what you do, you'll always fall. AU. Luke/OC
1. A Day of Malevolence

**Sigh, so this is my second story but it was a request from mah friend. So, yeah, please read and review (if you want).  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians...which is sad.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: A Day of Malevolence<strong>

Laveila sat down on the grass, looking weary after her unarmed combat session with Sherman, a son of Ares. She had a hard time taking him down because he was much stronger and more brutal. As always. But her I'm-better-than-you-because-Zeus-is-my-dad pride wouldn't let her be beaten down easily. People expected so much from her, just like her half-sister, Thalia. Too bad though, she became a huntress of Artemis and Laveila compared herself to 'forever alone guy' in her cabin. Everyone treated her as another leader even though Percy did more things than her. A stereotypical thing when someone's a child of Zeus, the king of the gods.

She wiped her sweat that was trickling on her left eyebrow. She grudgingly waited for her bestfriend Xandri, short for Alexandria, to finish her archery class. However, being a demigod and having a temperamental father, patiently waiting was never her forte. So, she decided to stand up and walked around the camp. She arrived in the sword fighting arena and saw that the sword-fighting class was still there, training. Her eyes landed on a certain son of Hermes and her stomach reacted violently. He was teaching a demigod, another son of Hermes, on how to handle a sword properly to avoid fatal accidents. Like the time where a daughter of Demeter tried to fight with a sword, she looked silly wielding the sword. It would've been funny if she hadn't accidentally stabbed her face. But she was lucky that Will was a good healer.

She slid her hand on her dark hair and watched the fight. Luke was going easy on the kid, who was having a hard time defending himself. While Luke kept on encouraging him to fight and pretend that he was an enemy. He even did the evil face. But sadly, the kid dropped his sword and chickened out. He rolled his eyes and sighed. He called for another kid, which she knew as a daughter of Athena. Since, she had the signature blonde and gray look and also the calculating eyes that Laveila always saw on Annabeth. Luke gave her a friendly smile and a pang of jealousy hit Laveila, even though he wasn't her boyfriend.

Luke talked to her for a while which just made the girl nod, probably giving her instructions. She observed his actions. The way he talked to her, which made her jealousy grow. The way his body glinted against the sunlight. The way how he carried himself, he seemed light and full of happiness. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she was one of his fangirls. Not the shallow type, of course. The one who'd go for his looks. They were friends and she knew his painful past. She felt hurt and wanted to comfort him in different ways without exposing her feelings but…

"Vei-vei and Wuke, sittin' on a twee, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! EACH OTHER!" Alexandria surprised her.

The aforementioned girl pivoted her head and glared at none other than her bestfriend, Xandri, who was still doing the 'ta-da' pose. The daughter of Apollo chuckled and waggled her eyebrows. A kid of Apollo indeed.

"So" she started, "How long have my friend been like this? Hm?"

"What do you mean?" Laveila asked in her I'm-innocent voice.

"Oh stop that pretension, my friend, I know you like Luke!" she raised her voice and Laveila controlled herself from strangling her friend.

"Oh, just say it to the world will you?" she growled at Xandri, but immediately regretted at her statement when the other girl considered this.

"Okay" she nodded innocently and then turned her back to Laveila, "HEY EVERYBODY! LA-!" she was unable to finish when Laveila took an immediate action of shutting her friend up by covering her mouth with her hand.

"Mmmm? Mmmmmmmmm!" Alexandria tried to speak but Laveila was too strong for her.

"I was being sarcastic dimwit!" she whispered and dragged her away from the amphitheatre, afraid that Luke might have heard Xandri.

She let go of her hand at Xandri and glared at the girl, "Girlfriend, keep on denying, you're just lying, stop trying, you're not convincing"

"Stop with the rhymes Xandri, seriously, it's annoying" she rolled her eyes.

"Psshhh, I'm just being observant, that's all" she shrugged and then looked behind Laveila. A wide grin broke into her lips and waved like a child," HIIIII LUUUKKEE~!"

The other girl flinched and then her eyes popped out of its sockets. Her heart was beating fast and she willed to calm herself down but instead, it just made it a whole lot worse. She was sweating like Hades and couldn't stop herself anymore. She mentally cursed but it didn't help her at all. Alexandria smirked at her friend and waited for things to unfold in front of her.

_It's just Luke, what else could go wrong? She thought to herself._

_A lot, another tiny voice answered her._

"Hey girls" Luke greeted in a casual manner.

Xandri still grinned and also Laveila but her forced smile looked like she was constipated. Casual, a word that was missing in Laveila's vocabulary. She couldn't compose herself and it's a shocking news for her. She was a daughter of Zeus for crying out loud. The king of the gods. She was supposed to have a regal and scary aura not the one with a diarrhea! But nooo, Aphrodite just have to play with her love life.

"Heya Luke!" Xandri greeted back and then she innocently looked at Laveila who was uncomfortably shifting her weight.

"Erm…Laveila?" Luke called but heard no response.

Laveila was still having her battle with her thoughts. She was confused. One part of her wanted to just casually greet the guy and get over with it but since Aphrodite had nothing better to do, her other part wanted to show Luke the feelings that she harboured for him. But she didn't know what part won because she was blushing so much she might've passed as a tomato and her thoughts were clouded. All thanks to Luke who touched her forehead.

_It's just a forehead! Jeez! A part of her shouted._

_No, it's not! It's Luke that's touching our forehead, he's not a stranger! Another one shouted._

"Earth to Tricia! Anybody there?" Alexandria knocked on her head, thus ruining the moment.

Laveila shook her head to stop the confusion and faced Xandri and asked, the same time as Luke, "Tricia?"

Xandri grinned like an idiot, glad that she had her dumbfounded friend back, "Yes…short for Electricia"

Laveila rolled her eyes, "Did your dad showed his true from to you and fried your brain?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "I guess so"

"Well" Luke butted in, "As much as I want to stay, I have to go for now, bye girls! Still got training to do"

He waved at them and went on his way, much to the disappointment of Laveila but didn't show it, of course. She looked at Xandri who eyed her.

"Awww…you lost your chance to _properly_ talk to Luke"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did NOT!"

"Oh yeah? Then why couldn't you speak in front him?"

"Well…I was having, uh, a hard time…yeah…because you know, I was thinking-"

"-about him all the time" Xandri mimicked.

"Was not!"

"Chea right, like I'm _supposed _to believe that!"

Laveila crossed her arms and looked away. Xandri was her bestfriend and as much as she wanted some things as secret, she couldn't hide it from her, the girl was just too damn good. The wind passed by and her long black hair waved like a banner. Xandri was still there, eyeing her. She didn't know where to start, her mouth kept on opening and closing but no words could back her up. She faced the girl and inwardly groaned, she was still looking at her.

"I suppose-"

"I knew it! YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE IN LOVE WITH LUKE CASTELLAN! OOOH YEAH! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" she jumped for joy and attracted the attention of some campers who were still on their training sessions. Some snickered at her.

"YOU…WILL…DIE…RIGHT…NOW" Laveila clenched her fists and was ready to pounce at her.

Xandri's grin faltered and her legs were ready to sprint any second. Laveila glared daggers at her and was going to break her bones when someone decided to butt in and save her ass.

"Xandri! C'mere!" Will called and waved at her to attract her attention.

Xandri looked behind Laveila and she mentally sighed in relief, "Well, as much as I want to stay and play with you, my brother's calling me. See ya!"

She dashed off and sprinted as fast as she could. Laveila looked back and promised to herself that the girl was going to get it, big time.

Friday night came fast and the campers were eager. The tables were cleared and the people were already on their armors and weapons, poised for war. Chatting voices filled the pavilion hall. As always, the Athena cabin was strategic in picking out their teammates.

Apollo, one of the largest cabin with athletic and some overconfident kids. They were good in archery. Wait, scratch that, they were champions in it, well, except when the Hunters of Artemis were present but they weren't there. The Hephaestus cabin, their partner in crime, whatever these nerds ( well, pretty cool nerds) could think, they were the ones who would put it into action. The Poseidon cabin, Percy promised to be with Annabeth's side this time and the forest had a creek , so, that was pretty much the advantage well, maybe his awesome sword fighting skills but the other side had Luke. The last was Demeter, the venue of Capture-the-flag was in the forest so they had an advantage.

Laveila wanted to join the red team but Xandri ruined it for her. When Luke asked her if she wanted to join his team, she was about to decline but she was hyperventilating at the same time. That was when Xandri "accidentally" passed by and asked Luke if what was wrong with her. Luke answered her by saying that he just asked her if she would like to join the blue team. An impish grin painted across her face and looked at her troubled friend.

"Well, maybe she's honoured to have you as her teammate that's why she's like that but I think that's a BIG YES!" she answered, her eyes full of mirth.

And that was how she ended up in the blue team, all thanks to Xandri. The campers were getting jittery when Annabeth and Luke came out, banners in hand. When they raised it, the crowd went wild. They all shouted and the loudest was the Ares cabin. They were cheering and cheering at the same time. The campers flooded out the dining pavilion, full of excitement. They all went to the forest and got into positions. They were waiting for Chiron's signal to start. While waiting, Luke went towards Laveila and put his hand on her shoulder, her face was pink but luckily it was too dark to notice it.

"I know it's hard to beat the Athena cabin, with Ares cabin as our teammate, I fear for our team. You're my only hope Laveila, I trust in you" he whispered and she tried to remain serious and composed, which worked this time.

They were still waiting for Chiron to start the Capture-the-flag when she heard someone chuckle. She looked at her left and a gleaming golden bow appeared.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the other side?" Laveila asked, giving her a quizzical look.

Xandri only snorted, "Right and miss that moment with you and Luke, I don't think so. I knew that something like that would happen. I was right all along!"

"Shut your trap Alexandria, this is not the time to fool around. Aren't you worried that Annabeth or the others would notice your disappearance?"

"I'm pretty good with ditching people, especially Will, he may be my big brother but he can't tie me like a dog!"

"How about your other siblings?"

"I'am as invisible as Annabeth's invisibilty cap!" she beamed at me.

"Whatever. Look, if you want to make fun of me, now is not the time, go!" she lightly shoved her to the other direction.

However, Xandri ran off to Luke's place and Laveila cursed in Ancient Greek. Whatever this girl's planning, it _cannot_ be good. She ran after her and on bad timing that's when Chiron appeared among the crowd and banged his hoof on a log, which must have hurt.

"Heroes!" he bellowed, "Capture-the-flag shall start in-"

She saw Luke leaning on Xandri, listening something to whatever she was saying.

"_No! This cannot be good at _all!" she thought aloud in her head.

"…1…Begin!"

Every camper charged into different directions and Laveila was crushed but she still saw the blond hair of Luke and Xandri's. Luke looked (very tongue twisting) confused and gave her a weird look. Laveila glared at her bestfriend and bellowed, which made every camper stop, wince and jump a little.

"YOU BETTER RUN NOW ALEXANDRIA MIKAELA HASSEN BECAUSE YOU ARE SOOO DEAD! LIKE A SWISS CHEESE!"

Xandri didn't know whether to run, whimper or cower in fear. But there was one thing that she knew, she definitely needed a plan to survive Laveila's wrath.

And she picked the choice to run.

"MOMMMMYYY! HEEELLLPPPP MEEEE! AHHHHHH!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

She ran as fast as she could and made a mistake of looking back hastily. She cursed in Greek and Japanese (she had a Japanese ancestry) when she saw that Laveila was gaining on her. The other campers were too stunned to even process of what was going on. Though it looked normal for bloodlust to occur in Capture-the-flag (for fun, according to the Ares cabin), they all knew that Laveila was different. She would not hesitate unless she vents out her anger to someone else or something else. She was _that_ scary. An advantage to the monsters and a major disadvantage to her peers, mainly her bestfriend.

Chiron was the first one to snap out from the trance, "Well, I believe that we should start this early so that we could save Alexandria from being mutilated to death, now shall we?"

Everyone nodded and the excitement that vanished earlier came back and all the campers were giddier than ever. They all went to their designated positions hurriedly to start. Percy guarded the red team's flag while Castor guarded the other. Annabeth looked for an opening so that the Apollo kids could infiltrate without having much trouble. The Ares cabin charged and looked for the flag and plowed to the other side. Chiron just watched the scene and got himself ready in case they get injured but he was greatly concerned about the daughter of Apollo. Where were they anyway?

Meanwhile, deep in the woods, Xandri was on a tree, hugging it for dear life. She managed to get away from the raging daughter of Zeus, all thanks to her talent of hiding in unexpected places. But she was happy that she just landed on the top of the tree, by climbing like a crazed monkey. Her other hiding places were much worse than a dumpster. She shuddered when she remembered it.

She frantically searched for Laveila but at the same time, she formed a plan in case she spotted her flaming friend. She sucked her breath when she saw Laveila below her tree, gripping her double, gigantic swords tightly. She was shivering in fright and tried her best not to go down and run away again. She saw Laveila stiffen and turned her head sideways. Xandri's heart was racing, she knew how Laveila gets angry and it was not something that was worth paying for. She eyed her bestfriend and semi-sighed in relief when Laveila went straight forward.

But what she heard confused the other girl, " Found it" seemed vague but something vague clicked inside the gears of her mind.

She didn't know it at first until she heard a scream. Laveila's battle cry (she had heard of it a lot of times and the reason was always her). She craned her neck to see Laveila fighting Percy. Her eyes widened when she saw the rage that was showing up in her eyes. Oh, how much Percy was in trouble. Even though he was a good fighter, a very angry person was ten times better as a fighter than him. She saw how their swords crossed. Percy was struggling. Laveila was mad. Very mad because of what she did earlier. Xandri was so much in trouble if Annabeth saw Percy as a dying young guy. But she knew that maybe Percy could snap her out of this.

Percy rolled out of the way and once again, their weapons crossed. Percy was losing his energy quickly because of the girl's force and there was no water to support him. He dodged again and was about to disarm her when she must have knew his style and disarmed him instead. The sword skittered in his right side. Uh-oh, not good. She was breathing hard and glared at Percy but her features softened a little and her eyebrows knitted. She then realized that all her anger became her energy and now she vented it out on Percy…she looked at him, his butt on the floor panting, sweating and both hands balanced behind his back. He smiled at him a little which confused Laveila but there was only one thought that jumped inside her head. She defeated Percy! Never in life did she realize that it would happen in her lifetime. She was overjoyed! Yes! But she didn't show it, outside she looked cool and calm. Pollux somehow arrived at the scene and Laveila tossed him the flag, he too was shocked but she glared at him as if to say _Move it, wineboy!_ and he ran to their boundary line.

Xandri gaped at the scene. Oh dear, she and Percy were so dead. Annabeth would be so angry that they lost. And she had something to do with Laveila's adrenaline rush. She was too young to die!

She wanted to go down and sprint so she could catch up with Pollux and stop him but Laveila was near in her way. She couldn't face her yet. She saw the small figure of Pollux running towards the boundary line and all she could do was stare and wait for their cheers.

Waiting…waiting…waiting.

An explosion of cheers erupted from Laveila's group, the banner turned purple and that was the only thing she could make out. The twins looked extra joyful at their win and fist-bumped each other. The other campers looked defeated, since they were. Others crowded under her tree and they mumbled to each other at how Athena was beaten easily. But she knew that Annabeth would come and shout at Percy first before her, if she told her the truth that is.

"PERSEUS JACKSON HOW COULD YOU SHAME OUR TEAM, YOU SEAWEED BRAIN!" Annabeth did appear and she was _definitely_ not happy about the outcome of the Capture-the-flag.

"But-but…"he tried to reason but gave up; he knew that he had a very darn smart girlfriend and she would just scream her reasons as to why she had every right to mutilate him to death.

Annabeth looked like she was ready to kill. However, Xandri didn't bother to hear their argument, if Percy even had the throat to answer. She looked away and noticed that Laveila looked calm and collected, a sign that she was okay. _For now._ She bit her lip and chewed on it. She couldn't just jump down and act like nothing mattered. Everything mattered to Xandri, especially the once raging Laveila, that would kill her if she had the chance. Never did she expect Laveila to be so worked up at her prank. She didn't really mention Laveila's real feelings to Luke, she just said, "Hey. 'Sup?"

Of course, a person would be very puzzled if a person just popped out of nowhere and leaned on him just to whisper those words. But to Laveila, it was bad and unforgivable. She gulped at her odds of managing to get herself alive before summer ends. Which was two months away. Xandri hoped she'd get a quest that would last for two months and a day before the end of summer break.

The girl was too preoccupied thinking of things about how she was going to explain, wait no, _survive_ in explaining to Annabeth that she didn't notice someone land close to her. The figure smirked at the girl's frantic face and quietly crept towards her.

"Why are you panicking Xanie? Capture-the-flag is over"

Xandri flinched then froze. No, this has gotta be an imagination, it's not true at all. Her worrisome face turned into alertness. She knew that only _one_ camper called her into that uber lame name. She slowly turned her head and her face paled, she bit her tongue to stop from gasping. Her suspicions were confirmed and saw him grinning, his face inches from hers. But before she could utter a word, she forgot to balance herself on the tree bark and fell on the tree. She heard something crack and also a scream, which undoubtedly came from her mouth. She felt the searing pain in her right shoulder and saw that every camper were shocked but looked at Travis Stoll.

He nervously looked at them, "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't do it!" but they looked doubtful.

Xandri saw Laveila's calm face looking at her but she looked at the other way as if there was nothing to worry about.

_She must be giving me the silent treatment again! Xandri thought._

Though, there was really nothing to worry about as she could heal herself like Will Solace. She reached for her right shoulder and spoke an incantation to heal herself. After a few minutes, the bone was good as new. She stood up and glared at Travis, who was still up in the tree, sniggering. The fall wasn't her idea of fun but it definitely Travis' definition of fun. He knew that she had the ability to heal, that was why he didn't look a little bit worried about her safety. As if she needed his support.

"I was kidding, I didn't mean to laugh!" he shouted after her but she pivoted her head and gave him a sarcastic look, "Okay, maybe I did mean it a little, but hey, we gotta laugh once in a while right?"

She rolled her eyes and went on her way. She was exhausted and she needed a rest. She trudged her way to the cabins but before she could even reach it, she had to dodge her way out to avoid Annabeth and Laveila. When she finally reached her destination, she washed, changed her clothes into pyjamas and crashed on her bunk.

"You look like something's bothering you, what is it?" a voice behind her asked.

She reluctantly got up and looked at her favourite brother, Will. He looked sincerely worried and he sat on the edge of her bed.

His lips rose into a smirk, "Is it because of Travis Stoll?"

Even though she knew how to pull up a blank look, she still couldn't stop the stupid fast heartbeat. She threw him her pillow and crashed on her bunk once again.

"Not talking. Fine" She felt Will stood up and threw her back the pillow, which she caught with ease.

Meanwhile, a calm-but-still-seething-on-the-inside-daughter of Zeus laid on her bunk. She promised that she'll give Xandri a torture, something that she always give to her, which she already started when she ignored her earlier. She will have her revenge, she'll just have to be patient. Thunder boomed inside which didn't help her mood at all. She turned and slowly closed her eyes. She'll have to avoid Luke first. Then, Xandri will be next. She smirked a little before sleeping. Her consciousness faded away.


	2. The Rising Trouble

**The typical overused Luke/OC but with a different story of course...anyways...please read!**

**Enjoy!**

****Chapter 2: The Rising Trouble****

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><p>Every camper was in their usual jovial mood. Chattering with their cabin mates about different things. While, some were too preoccupied with their breakfast, stuffing foods into their mouths.<p>

However, for Laveila's case it wasn't like that at all. It was the total opposite to be exact. It was understandable why she was grumpy; of course, she doesn't have anyone to talk to. Since her sister, Thalia Grace, became a lieutenant of Artemis she was always away and she rarely went to camp as she could not stand "obnoxious boys" around her.

She couldn't even transfer tables since it was against the rules and the campers were still frightened at her because of that crazy stunt she did last night. A stunt that could've killed Xandri. But for her, it wasn't that deadly at all. She had a temper, that was it and she had a right to throw a tantrum sometimes, she was a human –erm, half-human- after all.

All she did was glare at the Apollo table, stabbing her poor food at the same time; as if that was Xandri herself. Her prank last night was _not _funny at all and she had gone too far. She will have her revenge. This time, it will last until the rest of the summer. Giving her the silent treatment would not work, she already did that, and it was still useless. So, last night, she devised a simple but effective plan.

For Xandri's case, she was frightened. _Downright _frightened. Because, Laveila was already shooting daggers towards her. She could feel her stare (if that made any sense) as if there were real electric currents running through her glare like those cartoons when two people glower at each other.

Not only that, last night, she had a very frightening nightmare and her mood was already dark. Now that she woke up for another day, her mood did not improve at all. Not even a tiny bit.

She couldn't even laugh at her sibling's joke about Shakespeare or something like that. She was too preoccupied by Laveila's glare and her surroundings. She kept on looking around her, as if someone might pounce on her any minute by now. She kept on fidgeting with her food.

Apples were her favourite, and one look at it, she'd inhale it quickly like oxygen. But this time, she barely even touched her food. This was a bad sign.

She could still feel the daggers that the other girl was shooting at her. Xandri, even though she was cowering at her table, was quite impressed at Laveila's glare because not only was it a "two thumbs-up" kind of glare, she could hold it for a long time without even blinking (okay, so maybe it was an exaggeration but, hey, she barely saw her blink).

She was hoping that breakfast would be over because; her legs were already itching to sprint away from the enraged daughter of Zeus. She valued her life and dying young wasn't her birthday wish.

She prayed and waited until everyone was done.

After a few minutes, everyone was starting to get up. This was her chance! And with that, she used all the energy that she had (if she ever had, since she did not even eat her breakfast) to run away. Away from Laveila's powerful wrath.

Laveila knew that Xandri was scared of her, which highly amused her even though she was still pissed at the aforementioned girl. She should be, after what she had done. Although, she didn't hear it, Luke's reaction was enough to know that what she did was unforgivable. They were not ordinary humans, well half-humans technically but that wasn't the point, even if she vents her anger out, Xandri wouldn't be killed anyway. That girl had healing powers after all.

She was not in the mood for sword (for her, it was twin swords) fighting. Even though her reaction was kind of shallow, she couldn't help but snap because of Aphrodite and Xandri, of course. Aphrodite, because of her stupid love powers, she was hit by Eros' arrow and now cannot help but have a strange longing to tell Luke of what she felt. And for Xandri, because she _had _to tell it to Luke first before her, now what would she seem to him? A shallow fangirl?

She shook her thoughts off and gritted her teeth for being such a lovesick puppy. She wasn't like that! She was tough and she didn't need a love life to feel complete. Of course, she just kept on telling herself that. To stop herself from being a slave of Aphrodite's works. Dammit, that goddess. Why her? Why not her other daughters and sons? She groaned and tried to clear her mind.

She looked at her necklace, which was shaped like curved blades that looked like a yin-yang symbol only it was blue, and couldn't help but play with it.

That was her dad's birthday gift for her. She just tried to ask for one, just one big sword for her weapon, since she got inspired after she heard a game that was named God of War. The anti-hero, Kratos, had two red swords that Athena gave to him. The way it was described was so cool that she didn't sleep after she asked for it.

The next day, her birthday, she got two instead of one. It delighted her so much. She immediately contacted her mother using an Iris-message and showed-off her brand-new gifts. Although her mother looked nervous for her, since it meant that she might get thrown into a dangerous quest, Laveila did not mind and was even excited to start training with her own sword. She was so inspired that she trained hard to build some muscles since she couldn't carry both swords.

However, life can be unfair sometimes.

Since, Xandri got _three_ weapons. And sometimes, Laveila couldn't help but get envious at her luck. All of it were awesome too but almost all of it were long-range weapons. And for Laveila, it was kind of cowardly.

Her weapons were a golden bow and arrows (gift from her dad), a celestial bronze spear (a gift from her mom, who was also a _demigod_) and a whip that was made of celestial bronze chains (a gift from her crauber smart grandmother, Athena).

Even though Laveila only had twin giant swords, Laveila was the better fighter (and Xandri never won whenever they spar, hah).

She sat on the grass and let the cool wind whip her face and hair that was tied into a ponytail. She had the urge to blast the girl with lightning and she had to calm down or it would be Xandri's end, once and for all. When she meant not ordinary humans, that didn't mean that Alexandria was immortal.

She didn't even know why they were bestfriends in the first place. Or maybe because, when Laveila first went to Camp Half-Blood Xandri started following her like a crazed stalker after they first met, she didn't know why the weirdo Xandri was watching her every move, but one thing was sure: she was spooked by the girl's actions. When she couldn't take it anymore, she confronted Xandri and she found out that Xandri was amazed at her and she wanted to know why Laveila was so "cool". After that confrontation, Xandri tried to befriend her but it took days for Laveila to accept the offer since she was creeped out by Xandri's actions. When they became friends, Laveila still pondered at the fact why they were friends even though their personalities did not match at all.

She ran a hand on her hair and shook her head; there were some things that she could not understand.

Meanwhile, Xandri was scribbling something on her notebook as she practiced her poetry skills (even though it wasn't included in her activity schedule, she still continued her work as only poetry could make her feel better, so the other campers just left her alone with her misery). She was having a hard time to come up with a worthy poetry as she was still thinking about the glare that Laveila gave her earlier. Usually when she got mad at her, she would just give her the silent treatment. But as she thought about what happened to her last night, she knew she did a wrong turn at pulling a prank at her. Now, she was distracted and she couldn't even think of a single word to write, as she crossed out every word that she just wrote and she ran out of words to write.

She sighed and threw her notebook beside her. She was frustrated at her actions and now she just felt guilty. She wanted to bang her head on something harder than wood. Like a concrete. What she did was stupid and she didn't think about the consequences. Now she felt like she just lost her close friend, just because of a stupid prank.

As she was banging her head using her notebook that she just threw away, a figure loomed behind her. She was too busy to even notice that Travis was grinning like an idiot behind her back. He wasn't supposed to be in the arts and crafts building but he managed to sneak in anyway and Xandri was on a corner and everyone was too busy to even notice him.

He tapped her shoulder but she was grumbling and she was too busy banging her head. He tapped her shoulder again but she did not notice him again. For the third time, he continuously tapped her shoulder until she straightened up and banged her hands on the table and shouted, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Everyone turned their heads towards her direction and at that time, Travis already hid behind her, leaving a very embarrassed Xandri. She blinked a couple of times and chuckled at the people who, most of them, raised their eyebrows with a look of bemusement that spread across their faces. She nervously waved at them and they all went back to their work.

She sighed and looked behind her but she looked puzzled when she found no one behind her back. She shrugged and continued her unending poem, oblivious at the fact that a chortling Travis managed to escape without being noticed. He smirked at her reaction and went to on his way.

When Xandri was finished with her poetry making (she wasn't able to make one as she was too busy banging her head with a notebook since she could not forget her stupidity and recent embarrassment), she trudged her way out in the arts and crafts building. She still felt soulless and it took her time to realize that her next activity was archery, her favourite.

Not even her most favourite activity could make her happy. She was mentally stressed as she wasted her little energy by running away from Laveila, mopping in the corner and banging her head off with a notebook. Heck, she even doubted if she could pull a bowstring. She couldn't even walk without stumbling.

She felt like she was infected with a zombie virus.

She walked carefully (or rather tried to, as she almost planted her face on the ground) and went towards the forest. She didn't go to the deepest part of the forest, just where she can still see the camp. She hugged her knees and watched the other kids doing their activities. She wasn't really looking forward to do anything. She still felt guilty and she wanted to whack herself. She felt like the dark world swallowed her whole and she couldn't get out, she was trapped inside her conscience. Sometimes, even the bubbliest person, could really get emotional.

She sighed and closed her eyes to get some rest as she wasn't able to sleep well last night. And at that moment, a mysterious figure loomed again.

The figure crept noiselessly behind her, ready to attack. It was successful since it didn't wake her up. It was getting nearer and nearer when…it accidentally brushed its limb on a bush, startling the sleeping Xandri. She sat up, eyes alert. She looked in front of her and then behind. Nothing.

Then, the figure suddenly landed in front of her which scared the Hades out of her. She scrambled away from the figure; she couldn't see the face clearly as she was under the thick part of the forest. But whoever it was, she feared that it might be in a monster in disguise. But who or what could get past from the camp's magic boundary? Clearly, no one would summon a monster in here? Or it might be Laveila's summon? Why would she want her to be dead anyway?

Whoever he was, she was wary.

She was about to attack the intruder when she saw the figure clearly. She gritted her teeth.

The figure was none other than the famous prankster and thief, Travis Stoll, who was guffawing at her expression. Son of Hermes. Connor's older brother, who might as well have been his twin. Co-Head Counselor of the Hermes cabin, together with his brother. And last but not the least, her bane of existence.

"So, how ya doin'?" he said, in a flirty but playful voice. He was grinning at her and his eyes were full of mirth.

Xandri gave him a look of disbelief as she couldn't believe she almost had a heart attack because of him. Then, she changed her I-cannot-believe-that-it-was-you-all-along look to get-out-of-here-before-you-speak-in-rhymes look.

But Travis did not get her hint and kept on grinning at her, "Sorry, I wanted to give you something but I couldn't find you"

"Well, maybe we weren't destined to meet" she snarled at him, "So, get out of my way and for Apollo's sake, let me rest!"

He acted as if he was really heartbroken, but Xandri just rolled her eyes, and he clutched his chest as if it did hurt, "That hurts my dear Alexandria! I just wanted to give you something, to let you know how you amaze me so much"

"Go. Away." she growled at him.

"But…I just want to-"

"That's it! I'm going!" she said and then turned back, pointing at his face, "And don't even think about following me!"

With that, she went away and stomped her way towards the exit of the forest. But since Travis _was_ Travis, he didn't heed her warning and followed the irritated Xandri.

"Wait a minute!" he called after her, "I just want you to know that you have amazing monkey climbing skills!"

She abruptly stopped and whirled to face him, "Excuse me? DID YOU JUST CALL ME A MONKEY?"

Everyone in the arena who were doing their sword-fighting class whipped their heads towards Xandri and Travis.

But the ticked off Xandri didn't feel self-conscious and went on with her rant, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A HAIRY MAMMAL? I'AM A DEMIGOD THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I'AM APOLLO'S DAUGHTER! I'AM A TALENTED ARCHER, POET, MUSICIAN, ARTIST AND A HEALER! I DO NOT EAT LICE NOR DO I LOOK FOR PEOPLE WITH LICE! I EAT BANANAS BUT I DO NOT ACT LIKE A MONKEY!"

Travis winced at her voice but quickly recovered as he remembered something, "Well! Thanks for reminding Alexandria! I just wanted to give you this!"

He fished something out in his cargo pants and gave her banana, to Xandri's annoyance, "I forgot to give you this! Sorry, uh, it kinda looks old but, hey, let's not waste our blessings!"

He gave her a cheeky smile but Xandri did not reply anymore, instead she walked towards him and gave him a punch in the gut.

He crumpled on the ground but still managed to utter some words, although it was quite strained, "You don't want banana?"

"You were not LISTENING TO ME!" she shouted again and stalked away.

Connor, who was looking for his brother for an hour and finally found him, jogged towards Travis and said, "I leave you for an hour and this is what I see? Dude, seriously, why oh why are you kissing the ground?"

Travis groaned (not because of Xandri's punch earlier but of his brother's stupidity or maybe he was just mocking him) and had the urge to punch him also.

Luke also came, as he was the one who was teaching the campers in the arena, and kneeled beside his brother and asked, "You okay? Man, that was a nasty punch from Xandri"

Travis gave him a thumbs-up and got up and Luke helped him up, as he was wobbling when he tried to get up on his own. He glared at Connor who was guffawing at him.

When he managed to stand up, he smacked his brother upside the head and went away, with Luke shaking his head at Connor for being so immature. Connor just shrugged as if it was nothing and also went away, following his brother.

Laveila was still sprawled on the grass, looking at the moving clouds above her. She had been doing that for an hour and for the first time in her life as a demigod (also a daughter of the god of theatrical exits), she felt peaceful. This must have been Thalia's feeling when she joined the Hunters of Artemis. It was rather…nice. Being with Artemis and with other girls, just hunting together, having fun with them for eternity, assuming that they won't be killed in battle. It was like a one big happy family.

But of course, the only problem with that was to swear off boys for life.

It was quite difficult to imagine that.

She got up and sensed a presence. She did not look behind her, but she moved her eyes on the left to see who it was. She sighed and shook her head when she saw the curly blonde hair sticking out behind Peleus the dragon. Peleus was asleep and smoke was coming out from his nostrils, concealing the hiding girl. But Laveila knew that it was definitely Xandri, as she was the only one who loves to stalk her.

She stood up and inwardly groaned.

_I guess my peaceful time is over, she grumbled, Thanks for that Xandri_

When she walked away, the blonde girl quickly showed herself and ran towards her but failed to do so as she tripped on Peleus' foot. She landed face-first and her curly blonde hair was scattered behind her back, even though she tied it always.

Laveila just looked at her and rolled her eyes before going on. But she stopped again when the other girl shouted, "WAIT!"

"What. Do. You. Want. From. Me?" Laveila gritted her teeth.

"I just came here to apologize for that incident that happened last night…I'm sorry, really I 'am, I just didn't know I was going too far and…well-"

"Well, this is what _I_ know, you should have realized that _before_ you initiated it. Save your saliva, Alexandria, your future apologies are _not_ accepted!" Laveila said and then stalked off.

But Xandri was determined to knock her friend some sense, "YOU'RE BEING UNFAIR! Look I know you're not going to accept it but I'm sorry, okay? Because I gave you a heart attack. But the truth is, I didn't really tell him because you're my friend. Seriously, what is wrong if Luke _did_ find out that you're smitten with him? It's natural! It's part of our world! It-"

Laveila cut her off, "For me, it is NOT natural! It's is stupidity! I hate this feeling and I want to get rid of it! And stop making up lies!"

"You know what, for someone who's very tough, you are just a _coward_ inside. Your exterior is just a mirage, to mask your real feelings, to avoid yourself from getting hurt. Because inside, you're scared and you don't want other people to laugh at you because it would be _too_ ironic for a daughter of the king of Olympus. I don't like saying this but…it just makes you look pathetic"

Rage crossed in Laveila's face, no one ever insulted her like that before…oh, Xandri was going to get it. Big time, "You don't know anything about me Alexandria! So shut up and leave me be!"

And she finally left, not heeding Xandri's call anymore. Who was she to call her coward? She didn't know how confused Laveila was. She had no right to tell those things to her.

Laveila became more confused. She wanted to believe those words that Xandri said to her because it was kind of true but her pride told her that what she said was insulting. She was _not_ a coward. She didn't pretend to be tough. She was already tough. Or was she really?

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. That girl was trying to confuse her, and sadly, it was working.

"Alexandria, what are you up to this time?" she groaned under her breath.

She just aimlessly walked around the camp, pondering on the other girl's words which got stuck on her head. She didn't even see Luke jogging towards her, his face masked with worry as he saw Laveila looking confused, while kicking a rock.

"Laveila!" he waved at her, to get the girl's attention.

It worked as she looked up and stopped kicking the rock. She unconsciously waved back, forgetting the fact that she was supposed to ignore him. Then, as if she just woke up from a trance, she turned away from Luke and said, "Hey", to a nearby tree.

The dryad popped her head with a face that was unmistakably angry, said, "Shut up! I'm trying to have some peace here you know!" And then she disappeared inside her tree.

"Laveila! You okay?" Luke asked, nearing towards her.

But Laveila was being stubborn again and ignored him and said, "Oh, wow, what a beautiful cricket"

The puzzled Luke incredulously looked at her and asked, "Are you…alright? You seem distracted today"

But she paid no mind and then stooped as if to pick up something, "Hmmm…who would have dropped a coin here?"

"Laveila, are you avoiding me?" Luke asked.

The mentioned girl rolled her eyes and thought, _Not really! Can't you see I don't want to talk to you?_

But she just shut her mouth and continued to gaze at the imaginary coin on the grass and waited for Luke to go away.

When he finally did, as he could not make her talk, Laveila stood up and sighed as realization struck her.

Xandri was right, she was a coward. Xandri knew her more than she knew herself. But, pride struck once again and mentally told her that it was degrading to let Xandri know that she was right. To see her tell Laveila, "I told you so!"

The idea made Laveila scrunch her nose. She was right but it wasn't really necessary for Xandri to know about it. She'd still give her the cold shoulder. And she'll still execute her plan. A perfect plan that could drive Xandri to insanity.

"Man, Alexandria could really punch hard" a voice groaned near her.

She whipped her head at the voice's direction and a sly smile crept her lips. Tyche was on her side today.

The still groaning Travis trudged his way towards cabin eleven as he clutched his stomach, moaning and wishing that the pain would soon subside. He never thought that a simple banana could get him into trouble. Or maybe it wasn't the banana at all. Maybe it was…gasp…how did he not realize that? She had PMS! Of course, that was why she was scowling all the time. He should have realized that earlier. Oh well, lesson learned this time.

Travis groaned again when a pain shot in his abdomen. Maybe this was Xandri's curse to him, his father, Apollo, was the god of medicine, so maybe he was also the god of pain in the butt –or in his case, stomach.

He was too busy complaining under his breath that he didn't notice his brother standing in front of him like a guard statue, waiting for his brother to bump on him. He stopped when he, as Connor had expected, bumped on him and nearly fell on his butt.

"What was that for? Why are you blocking my way?" he asked his brother, Connor, who was grinning at him.

"Laveila wants to talk to you" he simply said, before he was pulled away by Laveila, smirking like a she-devil.

He gulped, her electric blue eyes was scary to look at, and said a shaky, "You want something from me?"

"Yes, I want you to annoy Xandri until she goes crazy" she casually said, as if it was something common to her.

"Why do you want to drive her to insanity?" he asked her and gave her an incredulous look.

"None of your business" she said and then answered again when Travis was about to say something, "You have no other choice here Stoll, do it or I'll barbecue you with my crunchy lightning bolt"

The shocked Stoll just nodded and quickly went away after the must-have-had-a-nervous-breakdown Laveila said, "Good" and walked away.

After running away from the crazed Laveila, Travis sat on the ground, and pondered at the "talk" that he had with the daughter of Zeus. He smirked at her words, she didn't need to threaten him, he was a son of Hermes after all and annoying people was his forte, besides, he was already annoying Xandri for two summers already. And, to his luck, it was working as she either ignores him or tries to murder him. This was even more fun now that her own bestfriend gave him a go signal, meaning no one could interfere him anymore.

He laughed like a villain in cartoons and earned wary looks from other campers that were nearby.

Meanwhile, Laveila was seriously talking to Chiron with Mr. D belching beside them as he chugged on his unending supply of Diet Coke.

The immortal teacher of heroes was on his wheelchair, looking very worried as Laveila was squirmed in her seat, readying herself to hear something that was troubling Chiron.

Chiron cleared his throat and said, "We have a very bad news"

Laveila nodded but asked, "What is it Chiron?"

Chiron sighed and then went on, "I'm not sure exactly but Mr. D told me that something happened"

She raised her eyebrow, "Which is?"

Chiron looked at Mr. D who was busy playing pinochle with the other satyrs. He cleared his throat and the pudgy wine god looked at them and then Chiron gave him a could-you-please-explain look and then the oversized cherub grumbled under his breath, "I didn't actually listen to them, so I don't know much about it, go talk to the oracle or something and don't bother me or I'll turn you into a shrub" and then he went back to his game.

Laveila looked at Chiron and then he sighed again, "Well, since he doesn't know, let's just ask the oracle"

"I'm going to Rachel Elizabeth Dare's cave?"

"Well duh" Mr. D rolled his eyes.

"Okay" she said and then went off to go to the oracle.

She sighed and then hoped that Rachel wouldn't scare her to death, as he trudged her way towards her cave.

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><p><strong>So...how was it? Please Review (I'm not the talkative type, FYI, in case you're all interested)<strong>


	3. The Trouble Long Ago

**Second fanfic! I dedicate this to my friend!**

**Okay, please...please...please read and review!**

**Chapter 3: The Problem Long Ago**

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><p>Laveila's list of fun things to do did not include witnessing Rachel Elizabeth Dare spew out green smoke around her and her mouth while she talked with that creepy, raspy and snaky voice that could drive anyone mad. But of course, there were demigods who were brave enough not to let themselves land into the world of insanity. But still, it was creepy. Enough said.<p>

Mr. D could have just said something about the problem that set Olympus into anxiety. But being him, meetings weren't as interesting and fun as pinochle and Pac-Man, which he had the nerve to play during the Second Titan War. Laveila even scratched her head once when she found out that Hestia gave up _her_ seat of power for that pudgy cherub. He just got a position because his dad was a party animal and he invented wine which added flavor to Zeus' parties, or something like that.

The thought of Mr. D being high and honorable muddled Laveila's mind. It felt like a total meltdown for her because she just didn't understand the rules on how to attain a position on Olympus. It seemed messed up. For example, Zeus and Poseidon, both are womanizers, yet if someone, mortal or immortal alike, had the gut to just sneer at them for being so foolish. Boom, they'd be ashes in no time.

Zeus' sons were also womanizers. Ares, having a very long affair with the ever lusty Aphrodite, didn't seem to get the meaning of "marriage" and ironically, his mom's the goddess of marriage. And then, he even had other affairs besides Aphrodite. Then again, being immortal that he was, maybe he just couldn't control himself, he couldn't die and he couldn't get killed also. Injured but not to the point of death.

Apollo, the F-Romeo, always was the hopeless romantic. He had a wide sphere of power yet no woman, mortal or goddess, seemed to be interested in him for a long time. Just an affair with different kinds of women and sometimes men! But that was it—no wedding bells for him. He was a musician and also a poet but the Fates must have cursed his love life, so that no one would fall in love with his antics. Poor him.

For Hermes, he was a lot like Apollo but the one that made Laveila confused was his sphere of power over thieves. He was the god of the _thieves_. She didn't know what he did to the thieves, either punish them or guide them, she didn't know but the crimes that mortals did made her thoughtful about how Hermes really used his power.

For Hephaestus, he seemed alright, although the shy type. He seemed okay except for his looks. Laveila had nothing against his physical appearance but if the gods had the ability to change then how come she never saw him do it? Maybe because he didn't care? Or maybe he just found it stupid to look after his appearance. And another irony was, his wife was the _exact _opposite. But maybe because she was the goddess of beauty.

Hera was hated by demigods because of her infamous deeds of making their lives a living Fields of Punishment. But even though Laveila was a daughter of Zeus and automatically Hera's target of her rage, she did understand that Zeus was being unfaithful and unfair to his wife. But it seemed unfair that she would incinerate the innocent women and their children especially.

Aphrodite would always be her. Goddess of love, beauty, lust, yeah, that's her power but the lust part made Laveila scrunch her nose as it looked out-of-place in an Olympus that she envisioned when she first heard about it.

Athena, yeah, she was awesome and awfully smart. A know-it-all, literally. She's okay and everything that she said or argued was reasonable but her pride sometimes got better of her and that could be bad if mortals dared to question her. Like Arachne for instance and the Trojans because of Paris.

Demeter was fine until the kidnapping of Persephone. Yeah, it seemed an excuse that she'd wallow in self-pity as her lovely child, with her _brother_, Zeus, was abducted by her other _brother, _Hades, and then Demeter was raped by her other _brother_, Poseidon, while looking for her child, and that union led to a talking horse. Talk about major incest. But she was a nagger, especially to Hades and up until now, she could never forget her brother's deed and still made the mortal world suffer with her for _months_.

And the last one was Artemis. The most independent of all deities. She was also awesome like Athena and she was friendly to all but _not_ to boys, except for her brother, Apollo. She's, well, cool and all but her utter hatred for boys and her morbid sense of humor were minus points for her. Actaeon was one of her victims of her horridness; he just accidentally (although Laveila wasn't sure whether it was really an accident or he did it on purpose) passed by when she and her nymphs were bathing but of course, that's was still counted as being a peeping tom so—boom, attacked by his own hounds and ripped to pieces. Another victim was Niobe and her seven daughters. Well, that was because she mocked the twins' mother—which was _not_ cool—but Laveila thought it was going too far. Killing fourteen innocent children (seven girls for Artemis and seven boys for Apollo) because their mother bragged that she had more kids than Leto? That was also unfair.

Laveila sighed as she thought all of the things that made the immortals imperfect. Nobody _was_ perfect, even their high and mighty relatives that ruled over mortals.

Her train of thoughts was cut off when she heard something crack underneath her left foot. She looked down and gasped—even though she should've expected to see one. She lifted her foot to make sure it was what she really saw and shuddered. She put her foot down and did not try to remind herself that it was a bone that she had stepped.

She looked at the place and frowned—curtain embroidered with snakes, old bones (which would've definitely delighted Nico when he'd come here) and swords scattered the place. Despite Apollo's happy-go-lucky attitude, he can be pretty scary when he wanted to.

Laveila shuddered again and reluctantly went inside.

It definitely had a fortune teller's eerie aura. The place was lit up with candles, making it look dark and mysterious at the same time. Things from the attic were placed here but Laveila didn't look at it, she went straight to the busy oracle.

Rachel was the same as ever, frizzy red hair, freckles and weird, brightly painted clothes that went against her black shawl that was draped on her shoulders. She was doing something, although she couldn't see it clearly—her hair was so wild that even her clips wouldn't work against it.

She cleared her throat and waited for Rachel to finish. The redhead looked up and grinned at her.

"Oh, it's just you, I knew someone was coming though I wasn't sure who" she said, putting away her work and Laveila craned her neck to see it but the place was too dim, "so, I'm pretty sure you're going to ask me about something, that's what you—demigods—always do."

"Yeah, it's about Olympus' sudden anxiety" Laveila replied.

"Olympus' sudden anxiety…huh—well, it has always been like that even in the old times, I wonder what old trouble had sent Olympus into that kind of state" she said, before going to her three-legged stool and waited for the spirit of Delphi to "hijack" her.

Then, as expected, green mist spewed out of her mouth and around the stool, Rachel opened her eyes and it became green. She opened her mouth and the snaky voice talked.

_Children of the eagle and the messenger shall unite_

_To save the deity of bloodlust with their greatest might_

_But a half-blood shall become a sacrifice_

_Between the enemies' goal of revenge and claiming their tantalized prize_

With that, she quickly collapsed but Laveila managed to catch her before she could crack her skull.

She slowly put Rachel down on a nearby table and quietly—or rather tried to—went out towards the cave though it wasn't an easy job. She kept looking at Rachel, wondering whether it was alright to leave her there—lying with no one to wait for her to wake up. Laveila hoped that her waking up wouldn't end as a big _if. _She considered carrying her towards the infirmary because she was rather pale and she wasn't sure if the girl was breathing. She looked back again to make sure Rachel wasn't dead (Laveila still wasn't used to Rachel as the new oracle as the former one was already dead and she needn't to worry whether that mummy would collapse or something…she'd even freak out if the mummy would suddenly tap dance or something) but this time—she wasn't lucky at her footing.

She slipped and her breath was forced out of her. She cursed at herself for being so careless and sat up, rubbing her head. She looked at the thing that tripped her and her eyes widened. She quickly scrambled away from that thing and knocked a lot of things that were carefully placed on shelves. Some even landed on her head, just to be cruel.

At the same time, Rachel the Oracle bolted upright and a barrage of spluttered noises were heard before she spoke in one words, "Who—what—How—Hotdogs? Prophecy? Right"

The girl who just freaked out when she saw a very old bone that looked like the oracle's hand, rubbed her head and complained at the things that bonked her head. She went cross-eyes for a minute but she was fine when Rachel started spluttering.

"I gave you a prophecy right?" Rachel asked Laveila who was—at the moment—thinking of ways to get back to those lifeless properties of the oracle who gave her a concussion.

"Yeah, you did" she moaned and got up to her feet.

Just then, Rachel realized the mess that surrounded Laveila, "What happened to those?"

"Your bone here" Laveila pointed to the protruding bony fingers, "tripped me and freaked me out"

"Oh" she said but didn't scold her, though she wouldn't like to admit it but sometimes the bones freaked her out too and she just didn't want a certain someone—ehemNicoehem—to find out or else it would all become alive when she would come back here.

"Later" Laveila said and went off, not looking back at Rachel anymore, as she was alright.

XOXO

Laveila went back to the Big House and what she saw surprised her more than how the bones freaked the Hades out of her (heh, bones and Hades).

Or maybe it was her concussion that was confusing her brain.

Xandri was talking to Chiron with a very grim expression on her face. Like something bad happened while she was too busy being knocked out by Rachel's teacups.

Chiron's face sagged while the blonde explained to him. She wanted to know what it was but Xandri stopped talking and nodded at Chiron. She turned her back on him and saw Laveila. For the first time in her life, Laveila saw how guarded Xandri look—like every minute someone or something might pounce on her. She didn't give that kind of look before and Xandri was _never_ that serious—even during the Second Titan War—she was the type to give people reasons to laugh (very much like the Stoll brothers).

Xandri looked so forlorn Laveila thought she might be an impostor. Xandri just passed by and didn't even acknowledge her existence and Laveila was miffed at her action but then again—she _did_ tell Xandri that she would never forgive her. So maybe they were even.

Laveila looked again at her ex-bestfriend (as she now called it) and saw her scowling at something which made her eyebrow shoot on her scalp. She really _never_ did that as long as Laveila remembered. Or maybe she was seeing another side of Xandri that she never knew.

She shrugged it all off and went straight to Chiron who looked at her expectantly. She sighed deeply before talking.

"As usual, Chiron, the Oracle was always gibberish when talking" she said but Chiron still looked at her, "Fine, it went like this…um…Children of the eagle and the messenger shall unite/To save the deity of bloodlust with their greatest might/But a half-blood shall be a sacrifice/Between the enemies' goal of revenge and claiming their tantalized prize…yeah, something like that"

"Please, sit down" was all Chiron said before plunging deep into his thoughts. Laveila didn't know what the prophecy really meant but the first and second lines were _so_ obvious.

Ares was kidnapped or something and _she_ was part of the team that would save his godly butt. And she didn't like the words "children of the messenger". _He_ was also part of that team.

"I presume you understood some lines in the prophecy, am I correct?" Chiron began to talk that Laveila made him repeat again.

Chiron asked the same question, word-for-word.

"Oh…um…yeah. I do. I'm part of the quest and Ares was kidnapped by some enemy. Though I'm not sure about the third and the fourth lines. I'm not really enthusiastic about it" she said, squirming in her seat.

Chiron nodded and sighed, "I'm very afraid of that half-blood whoever he or she might be…I just don't like how the word sacrifice was used"

Laveila nodded in agreement and spoke, "We're gonna have a meeting won't we?"

"We still need two volunteers for this quest" Chiron started to get up, "and we are going to see who fits best for this dangerous quest"

Laveila wanted to point out that he just made a rhyme but stopped herself, as she realized that it was a stupid answer to what he just said. Together, they went out and he called Connor Stoll, who was doing something Laveila didn't want to find out and ordered him to tell the senior counselors of the meeting in the Big House rec room.

He scrambled his way to the busy senior counselors and frantically talked to them.

After a few minutes, they were all settled in, with the exception of the Apollo cabin whose counselor was late. They all waited—impatiently, in the case of Clarisse—and waited for another few minutes. All of their heads perked up when they heard scuffling, panting, bumping and a string of cursing outside. A blonde girl almost tripped just by entering but managed to catch herself and stood up, panting and smiling nervously. She had a lighter shade of blonde hair than the usual color of Apollo's kids' hair and darker blue eyes; she looked college-age with her figure.

"Oh, hi, my name's Daisy by the way, the temporary senior counselor of the Apollo cabin because Will's away with some quest…um…nice to meet you" she still had the nervous smile but went to her place anyway and sat.

The silence was cut off with murmurs of, "Finally, the lanky geek showed up (by Clarisse)" "Daisy? A daughter of Apollo? Wow, what a unique name (by Connor snickering with his brother, Travis who were being shooed and glared by Luke)" "Hmmm...Johnnie Walker…what a wine…what a wine (by none other than, Mr. D)"

But Chiron cleared his throat and everyone stopped talking at once, "As you can see, we're here for a meeting—"

Clarisse rolled her eyes and murmured, "No, we're not—we're here to play Ping-Pong" and then shrugged when she saw Laveila glaring at her.

"—the event that led Olympus' into anxiety was the kidnapping of one of the Olympians" he gravely said, "Ares, the god of war, was the… victim—"

But Chiron wasn't able to continue as Clarisse, obviously, gasped and spluttered, "WHAT? How could this happen? But he's too strong to be just whisked away! No—"but wasn't able to continue when Chiron held up his hand.

"Patience, Clarisse" he said and the counselor reluctantly sat on her chair, "This has happened before, I assure you, it happened when the Aloadae twins ambitiously thought they could have the goddesses, Artemis and Hera, for themselves…Ares was kidnapped by them and trapped him inside a pithos—"

"Lies! Dad would never let himself be just defeated like that!" Clarisse retorted once again, cutting off Chiron's story. Really, the meeting had been magical with all the "cutting off".

"I do not lie, Clarisse, please sit down" Chiron said patiently and Laveila gave him some credit because if it was her she'd punch the girl first before telling her to put her butt down in the chair.

"Fine" she grumbled and cursed in Ancient Greek.

"So where was I? Oh yes—they were able to trap him but Artemis was able to defeat them by tricking them to shoot one another."

"Are they, like, monsters?" Daisy asked, which startled some people who almost forgotten that she existed.

"No, they're like demigods like us" Annabeth was the one who answered her question, "Their mother was the wife of Aloeus, as they were named after him and their father meanwhile," she lingered for a moment and gave a knowing look towards Percy, "was Poseidon".

"Great, another killer brothers" Percy mumbled.

"They actually chased Artemis for a long time, heck, they even ran on water just to keep with her pace" Annabeth added.

Percy looked thoughtful, "Hmmm…I guess I should try that trick sometime"

But Clarisse looked like she was trying her best not to listen but she talked anyway, "So, there's some prophecy here right? I volunteer!"

Chiron looked worried when she said that one, like he knew she'd do that and was trying to say something that wouldn't hurt her feeling, "Clarisse, my dear, I'm afraid that the Oracle had not included a child of Ares to save him"

She gave an incredulous look but soon turned to an indignant one and stood up, "WHAT? HE'S MY DAD! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM NO MATTER WHAT THE COSTS ARE! I'M NOT GOING TO FOLLOW THAT FORTUNETELLER'S PROPHECY!"

Laveila rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath but Chiron just sighed, "My dear child, if you do not follow the prophecy, something might happen bad to you"

But Clarisse would hear none of it, "WELL ANNABETH BROKE THAT RULE ONCE! SHE DIDN'T DIE AND NEITHER DID BARNACLE BREATH, THAT CYCLOPS BABY AND THAT GOAT!"

"Hey! Don't call Tyson and Grover—"Percy started but was held back by Annabeth who shook her head.

Annabeth faced the enraged girl, "Clarisse, in my prophecy it didn't say who the people were—"

"Annabeth's right, Clarisse" Laveila butted in, feeling like there's going to be a fight if she didn't intervene, "I heard the prophecy, I heard every line that the Oracle spoke. It didn't say that a child of Ares would come and save the day. The lines went like this…Children of the eagle and the messenger shall unite/To save the deity of bloodlust with their greatest might/But a half-blood shall be a sacrifice/Between the enemies' goal of revenge and claiming their tantalized prize…so it's clear that I'm going and two of Hermes' children"

"Yeah, we understood that and all…but you should be careful Laveila—the third line's not pretty" Miranda Gardiner said.

There were murmurs of agreement and some even shuddered; it was never really easy for half-bloods.

"WHAT?" Clarisse shouted for the third time and some even groaned when she spoke—or rather shouted that word again, "You can't be serious? Her and two Hermes children? Was the Oracle mad to give such a dangerous quest to these weaklings?"

"Excuse me" Laveila stood up, looking indignant as she glowered at Clarisse, "I could fry you any minute if I want to Clarisse! So, don't underestimate me!"

She looked unfazed with her threat and just snorted when she took a seat once again, "What a joke. My dad's out there being imprisoned and then three losers save him? I bet the twins would be laughing their butts off at the sight of the trio"

Laveila gritted her teeth and shouted a, "That's it! You're crossing the line!" before lunging at Clarisse like a wild animal. But Laveila was unable to do so as she was stopped by Annabeth and Percy (really, they're like Siamese twins) while Clarisse was stopped by Luke and several other girls. She thrashed and kicked but was still held back by the Siamese tandem. Meanwhile, Clarisse was ready to kill.

Chiron just sighed, "Let us finish this meeting now before the conch horn sounds"

When everyone else calmed down (well, not entirely all of them as Laveila was glaring at Clarisse while the latter was cracking her knuckles), they pondered for a moment.

"Okay, so we have Laveila, then who are the other two?" Percy asked Chiron but the others already looked at Luke expectantly.

"What—? Oh, fine" was all he said when others looked at him with those big puppy dog eyes.

Laveila's attention towards Clarisse disappeared when she heard Luke's words. Her expression changed from disbelief to outrage…he was coming with her! Of course, she would've expected something like that—he _was_ part of the prophecy as he was the son of Hermes and all. But still…Travis and Connor Stoll would've been her first choice. She had decided on that after she heard Rachel speak the prophecy.

"Okay, so we have two now but the prophecy said that the children of the eagle and messenger shall unite and Thalia's not here…I presume we take another child of Hermes?" Annabeth said, ignoring Clarisse's string of insults towards the would-be trio who would save her dad.

"I suppose that would be a yes but who to take is another question" Luke said, looking disgruntled as he was forced to come as he knew that the person he'd be going with would definitely kill him in his sleep since he didn't like the way she ignored him only and talked to other people, she might as well plot a plan to murder him.

"Well, convince your siblings or something, your dad's like the god of travels so travelling would be a whole lot easier if two children of Hermes would come" Percy said.

"And we'd never starve" Luke slyly commented, earning a glare from Annabeth, but the guy just chuckled.

"I guess that's partly settled then" Laveila said in a nonplussed voice.

"Nah, that's not gonna be a problem, besides Hermes has a lot of kids—I'm sure Luke would be able pick one" Percy said

"The problem is—we have no idea who is the enemy and I don't like the feeling about this quest. I got a feeling that it's going to be a disaster" Miranda said, feeling agitated as she spoke.

"Every quest is bound to be a disaster but I suppose this one's going to be the record breaker" Clarisse growled as she glared at Laveila and Luke, who respectively glared back and ignored the girl.

"A half-blood shall be a sacrifice/Between the enemies' goal of revenge and claiming their tantalized prize…hmmm…there are a lot of theories as how the Oracle had used the word sacrifice but I have an idea about the enemies" Annabeth said as she faced all the soon-to-be-bored counselors.

That got their attention, they all focused on Annabeth as she started speaking, "The word tantalize is obviously the clue…although I detest that word as it was named after Tantalus"

They all cringed at the name when they all remembered the time when Tantalus took over Chiron's work as camp director. He was not a pleasant man.

"But anyway" Annabeth continued, "the word means that, if someone or something tantalizes you, they make you feel hopeful and excited about getting what you want, usually before not letting you have what they appeared to offer. This word is the exact description about the Aloadaes' failure to capture Artemis. They were so close to capturing her but like what I said earlier, they failed because she tricked them. So, maybe it's like usual history-repeats-itself thing. The enemies are the Aloadae twins but I'm not sure where they are now, they are hunters so I—I d—don't know" Annabeth wrinkled her nose when she said the last part; everyone knew that it was hurtful for every child of Athena to say that they do not know something

"S'okay Annabeth" Laveila assured her, "At least we know who are enemies are"

"But I still fear for that half-blood" Daisy spoke as she squirmed in her seat, "Words have started to terrify me"

"What a baby" Clarisse said, as she rolled her eyes, "You shouldn't dwell too much on those words; they'd really terrify you if you let it take over you"

They all stared at her in amazement, Clarisse never lectured them like that; although it was quite harsh when she first uttered.

"What?" she glared at them and they all looked away.

"Okay" Laveila stood up, "I guess that settles it, though we might need a plan on our quest"

"No to worry" Annabeth said, "I'll take care of that problem"

Everyone stood up as they took this as a sign of a finished meeting. They all murmured to themselves as they went out to the Big House rec room. One by one they all walked—some of them jogged and one of them still kept on cursing—towards the pavilion hall when the conch horn sounded, signaling the campers to eat their lunch.

Meanwhile, Laveila waited for them all to go out, she even refused Annabeth's offer to come with her and Percy to eat, and she had wanted to talk to Chiron about something that bothered her. She just didn't bring it up since the quest was far more important than her personal question.

When Chiron was ready to leave, Laveila called his attention, "Chiron!"

The centaur looked at her, bemused at her expression, "What is it Laveila?"

"I just wanted to ask you about Xandri" she said, as she jogged to equal her pace with Chiron's, "she looked so guarded a while ago—like she was expecting something to happen to her and she rarely scowls, okay, I never saw her scowl—that I have to admit, it was quite weird, really"

"She didn't tell me anything strange, though she did mention that she had a nightmare but other than that…nothing" Chiron said.

"Oh" was all Laveila could say.

Chiron smiled at her, "Do not worry about her, she's a special one, that girl is also strong"

"Special? Why? Because she's an offspring of a demigod and a god?" Laveila asked, but her tone sounded rude and jealous.

"Partly yes because, not only is she a healer but also a smart one—a nerd as Will had described her sister— but I suppose that would be from her mother whose mother was Athena" Chiron said, which did not make Laveila feel special.

"Although" Chiron added, "there were times when she's serious especially when she trains"

"Well, naturally Chiron, even clowns would get serious if their lives are on the line" Laveila commented, "But anyways, I have to go, thanks Chiron"

And then she ran off to eat her lunch.

Meanwhile, Chiron stopped and stared at the horizon; mumbling, "I have a bad feeling about her"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry, I just tend to zone out and procrastinate that's why it's sooo late!<strong>


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